The present invention pertains to an intraluminal cutter for trimming ingrowth from the inside of stents or other shunts.
Current ways of dealing with tumor ingrowth into a lumen of a metallic stent include putting a second stent within the stent, or placing a catheter across or placing a covered stent within the stent. The covered stents are not readily available in the United States, and may become crimped by the tumor mass within the primary stent. Cleaning the lumen of the stent from the tumoral ingrowth may be a better alternative, even when a second stent is planned to be inserted.
Accordingly, there is a need for intraluminal cutters for many applications including, but not limited to, biliary stents and TIPS shunts.
The present invention meets the above-described need by providing an expandable, rotary cutter having a plurality of cutting blades designed to cut and remove tissue proliferation within stents, and reopen stents. The intraluminal cutter is placed within the lumen of the clogged stent and expanded. By rotary movement of the expanded cutter blades, the device cuts and removes the material within the lumen. Cleaning out the lumen of the stent/shunt with the cutter is superior to prior art methods and devices for reintroducing flow through the stent.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description.